Cannabis News and Information

He pointed out that while many lawmakers have condemned the so-called War on Drugs as an “abject failure,” far fewer have given full-throated endorsements for legalizing the substance. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has said he’s not totally sold on the idea. California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D), who is running for Senate, has declined to take a stance on the state ballot measure, but says she believes legalization is inevitable. Outgoing Sen. Barbara Boxer (D) has said she may support legalization but hasn’t yet, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) is opposed.

“How do you justify the current conditions?” Newsom asked. “For me, you can’t be neutral here. This is a social justice issue. It’s an economic justice issue. It’s a racial justice issue. People need to step up, either come out vehemently against it with a better alternative, explain away the status quo because you’re complicit in it ― society becomes how we behave ― or come on board.”

Some people are just going to be more sensitive to cannabis than others. Do you know someone who drinks just one cup of coffee and is bouncing off the walls? What about someone who is drunk after two beers? People respond differently to all kinds of things. Cannabis is one of them.

This is where the endocannabinoid system comes into play yet again. Several factors can influence the ECS. Genetics, diet, stress, and lifestyle all contribute to how the ECS works in every individual.

For a diet example, endocannabinoids come from fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids especially. If your diet is low in fatty acids, your endocannabinoid system is going to be out of wack. Cannabis feels good to those who don’t have many endocannabinoids. Yet, the herb may feel a little over-the-top to those who don’t need a boost.

For managing patients with “complicated dementia,” such as extreme agitation, cannabis is safer than the antipsychotic drugs typically prescribed, Grob said. No pharmaceuticals have Food and Drug Administration approval for such use, and the antipsychotics come with an official “black box warning” that they carry an “increased risk of death” when used to treat dementia’s neuropsychiatric symptoms, he said.

“We use them,” Grob said, including himself in that practice, because cannabis “is not for everybody.” Some patients have a negative reaction to marijuana, such as paranoia or anxiety, he said.

When he puts a dementia patient on marijuana, Grob said his approach is to “start low and go slow” with the dosage. “In my book, cannabis is much safer than (antipsychotic) prescription medications,” he said.

I struggled with this one. For me, marijuana was a new medication. I wondered, did I really need to teach my kids about it? And did I really need to lock up my medicine?

Lock up your weed. In a few short years, my boys will be teens. A teenager’s prefrontal cortex is not fully developed, which means they cannot understand consequences and have poor impulse control. Avoid temptation, avoid worry, and lock up your weed. I bought a medicine lockbox from Amazon. It’s affordable, has good reviews, and discourages overly curious brats. Most importantly, I hope locking up my medicine lets my future teenagers know that mom’s proactive and always watching.

When asked whether they believed there was a “great risk of harm” from smoking cannabis once a month, 29 to 36 percent of people in non-legal states like Texas, Utah, and Oklahoma said yes. In experienced medical marijuana states such as Oregon, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, only 19 to 21 percent of people felt there was a great risk of harm from once-monthly consumption.

Those opinions correlated with actual monthly use. Oregon, which registered one of the lowest perceptions of harm, also notched a relatively high percentage of residents (12 percent) who consumed at least once in the past month. In Texas, 36 percent of respondents saw monthly use as high-risk, and only about 5 percent of people said they’d consumed in the past 30 days.

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